Excessive equipment weight, cost and setup time are three problems facing working musicians. Musical instruments, such as percussion instruments, require stands or mounting devices that position and secure them while they are being played. Musicians travel with their instruments to various locations so they desire a convenient method of packing, storing and setting up instruments for performance. To transport and setup instruments for performance requires time and effort that can be even more difficult for the musicians than actual performance. Equipment that is required for musical performance is usually heavy, expensive and time consuming to set up. For example a case of hardware necessary to set up a typical drum set would weigh more than 75 pounds. Such a case would contain very expensive hardware and be cumbersome to move from place to place. Set up time for musicians is also a problem. Musicians generally get paid only for their performance therefore any time spent setting up instruments and equipment is unpaid. Excessive equipment and instrument setup time is a problem for working musicians.
The usual arrangement by which percussionists or drummers position their instruments is to use collapsible tripod based stands that are constructed of three or more collapsible legs and a center telescoping tube that functions as the instrument stand. Another typical method of supporting and positioning such instruments is to use a rack system. Such a rack system would consist of tubes or some kind of framework to which instrument stands would be mounted.
While functional and useful, the collapsible tripod legs for instrument stands impose cost, weight and some difficulty during instrument setup. Such tripod based systems are expensive to manufacture thus expensive to purchase. These collapsible tripod bases consist of multiple moving parts, each of which must be manufactured and assembled and transported and are therefore expensive and complicated. Such stands are also difficult to set up since the moving parts sometimes bind and stick especially after significant use and wear. Some setup difficulty occurs when instruments can not be positioned where desired due to the size of the stand bases. The stand base position is limited in setup placement when adjacent to another stand. Since two stands cannot be moved close enough together, compromises in instrument placement must be made due to the limitation of stand placement. Also, the usual arrangement of tripod stands requires some method of carrying the set of stands from place to place. A typical case for this hardware imposes added cost, requires storage space when instruments are being played and may be very large and cumbersome to move. Rack systems are also expensive and require a separate case. Additionally, tripod and rack systems look distracting and can block clear sight of the performer from the audience perspective.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide support for musical instrument stands.
It is another object of the invention to use the carrying case for instrument stands as the foundation for one or more stands.
It is another object of the invention to use the carrying case for instrument stands to eliminate the need for stand legs.
It is another object of the invention to develop instrument stands without legs to improve cost effectiveness, reduce weight and reduce setup time of instrument supports.